Industry Trade Association Meeting

This past week, I attended an industry trade association meeting. As always, it provided me with the latest thinking in the industry.

I sensed a change in the air with regard to Chinese competition. While it is still a factor, there is a growing feeling that American manufacturers can compete if they are aggresive in their operations, taking advantage of the thinking of all of their employees, modernizing and developing a consistent flow of innovative new products.

There was also a sense of concern about the economy going forward, but there was a well known Economist who presented a very strong case for another good year in 2006. While there maybe a slowdown, the year will provide positive growth once again and that fears of another recession are overblown unless we encounter another 9/11.

My sense is that we are all being bombarded with bad news on such an ongoing basis that it is sometimes hard to recognize the underlying strength of our economy.

Maybe we should stop reading our newspapers and listening to TV news!